Page 22 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
Bonus Abilities Available:
1: If you control all bridges in a Domain, gain double experience for bridges in that Domain. Current Domains Unlocked: Dark Enchanted Forest.
2: If you control a bridge in all Domains, mana cost to travel between Domains is halved. Current Domains Unlocked: Dark Enchanted Forest, Drendil, Peldeep, Servalt, North Sumbria, Sumbria.
3: If you control the furthest bridges at the four corners of Valaria, unlock the ability to travel between any bridge you have ever crossed, even before obtainingWorld Bridge. This power can pass through the Void into alternate and subspaces for additional mana cost. Current Bridges: South: Faren’s Arch in Sumbria; West: Daffolyn Bridge in Peldeep; East: Sea-to-Sky Bridge in Servalt.
4: If you control all bridges in Valaria, unlock Hidden Domain: Valarian Royal Palace.World BridgePerk upgrade: Empress of All Bridges. Unlock Title: Empress of Valaria.]
[World Bridge] had different abilities I could unlock, and one would let me travel toanybridge I’d ever crossed. And since I was Gerda, and Gerda was me … I was hoping that meant I could go to a bridge fromthe before.
I only had one bridge left to find, but it was going to be the hardest one yet. The Northern Ice Fields were a treacherous frozen land crawling with high-level monsters, storms, and a dangerous mountain ridge between here and the area I needed to reach.
Would I even make it there without the completed set?
A plus-three boost was great and all, but when the set was completed, each of my abilities would get a plus-five bonus. Times six items, that was a plus-thirty buff to my stats … and since leveling up gave me two points to attributes per level, the set was the equivalent to going upfifteen levels.
That was hard to pass up …
But Duke Julian wasn’t a bunch of pixels on a screen reading predetermined lines … Even if he did walk into encounters, he was still aperson.
And that locketmeantsomething to him.
Duke Julian’s backstory had played a huge role in his hidden route during Season One. He’d lost his father at such a young age and felt helpless. All this time, he’d thrown himself into guarding North Sumbria … but he was isolating himself, away from the people he cared about the most, grieving alone.
He loved his family, but he didn’t feel worthy of their love until he could stand in his father’s place. And he didn’t feel like he could love anyone else for fear of losing them.
Stupid Sumbria, if only I’d been reincarnated into the story twenty years ago, then maybe I could’ve done more to help everyone.
Instead, I was here.
And still undecided about everything.
CHAPTER 10
Preferably Unalive
Julian
Breakfast was his mother reminding him, again, about his tasks for the day.
“… there are three categories of finalists. There’s the junior division, with Rocco the fire mage against Sandy Moor the summoner. Then, in the newcomer tourney, we have Candace Stannard, the giantess, against Cimor the Monk. A bad matchup, but that just means if Cimor wins, anyone who bet on her is walking away with a heavy purse—”
Julian cut her off. “You bet on her, didn’t you.”
“Of course.” Grand Duchess Calisto smirked. “Now, the finalists for the main Summer Solstice Tourney were both unexpected rising stars: We have a mouse named Vance Underwood, and Kenji Toriyama from Peldeep, both high-level sword arts users.”
“Is Vance a mousekin or a beastman who can shift into a mouse?” Julian questioned idly. Mouse was small for a shifter, but he didn’t want to automatically assume they were the unchanging mousekin. There were many different kinds of kin, from ratkin to lizardkin to catkin and everything in between. They always kept the same form, unlike beastfolk, who could shift from everyday folk to full-on beast.
“Neither,” his mother surprised him. “Vance is aknowing mousewho immigrated here from the Dark Enchanted Forest. He’sveryreputable and known for guarding merchant caravans.”
“Huh.” Julian stabbed a bit of scrambled egg. They were sitting at the breakfast table, the summer sunrise not an hour gone and already the world was bright and ready for the day. Birds were chirping in the trees, and the city was just starting to wake up.
Julian was used to getting up early, but he wasn’t used to tossing and turning all night thinking about a mysterious troll.
And there he was, thinking about heragain.
He shoved her out of his mind and refocused on the conversation at hand.
